Crawford Out

Fairfield men's guard Sean Crawford is out and probably for the season. The junior had a tear of is ACL during the Saturday practice after Red Sea Madness, which will require surgery. After the procedure to repair the tear, he is expected to rehab for 6-8 months. If he is indeed out for the year, Crawford will red shirt the 2010-2011 season.

Big loss for the team. Crawford was their ignitor from the bench and just seemed to come up with a clutch basket when the team needed it. I have spoken to Crawford since and he remains in high spirits about the team.

The team just keeps getting ravaged by injuries. But good teams are able to persevere. This injury will force other players to step up and fill their "Sixth Man" needs.

Men's Sixth Man?

Who will be the men's basketball team sixth man on the year? With the graduation of the best sixth man in the MAAC last year in Mike Evanovich, this becomes a even bigger problem. The candidates are all guards who can add speed and quickness to the team that is already comprised of many guards. Here's who i think are the top 3 candidates if we go by the following as the starting five.

Starting Five:
Derek Needham
Yorel Hawkins
Warren Edney
Colin Nickerson
Ryan Olander

Top three:
Sean Crawford: He is a feisty and quick guard who is one of the biggest threats from three point land. Not only can he beat his defenders with his speed but he controls the ball very well and is a good scorer. The biggest part of his game is the intensity that he brings in every time he comes off the bench. Numerous times last year he was the spark plug of the struggling team that add intensity and a desire to win.

I always thought that the best player Crawford could become is a good sixth man. I think this is his year to show that he can do this. The team is also going to struggle behind the arc with the departure of Mike Evanovich so they need someone to add to that game. He also looks alot like John Legend.

Lyndon Jordan: Two years ago, who would have thought we would have mentioned his name like this. But Jordan has shown his clutch factor in games past. He was big for us in 2008 with all the injuries but slowed down a little bit last year when he was asked to go to a starting role. He brings speed and quickness and also I feel a good knowledge of the game.

I will never forget looking at the game report after the Fordham contest and seeing that Lyndon Jordan made the winning shot. Bob Heussler's call said it all, "Lyndon Jordan the unlikeliest of heroes have given the Stags the one point win." I don't think he is better than Crawford but he does have something that helps the team out on a daily basis.

Greg Nero: This is the hardest one because Nero has enough talent to start and be one of the team's better players. All of his teammates have said that looking at him in practice, he has not missed a beat. He says that he expects to play 20-25 minutes a game, but Cooley is taking it easy on him. If he does come off the bench, he will not only be the most talented bench player in the MAAC, but he will also bring size and a grit to him that the team needs. It's a small team but when Nero wants to score, there is no stopping him.

Nero is one of my favorite players because of his competitiveness. He pushed his body beyond reasonable expectations and almost paid the price. I still think he is one of the best in the MAAC and just can't wait to see him play. When he is fully healthy, I believe that he will will become a full time starter.

Fans miss Majok Majok

In the recent poll entitle "What is the biggest adversity for the Stags" the fans overwhelmingly chose the loss of Majok Majok. Here are the results:

Loss of Majok Majok 54%
Greg Nero Injury 28%
Yorel Hawkins' Knee 8%
Warren Edney Ankle 8%
Sean Crawford Foot 0%
Loss of Adam Jones 0%

I personally voted for the Greg Nero injury and think there is too much stock put into Majok Majok. Yes he is a big loss. Yes the recruiting class is much weaker without him. But when Greg Nero played in 2008 he was the Stags BEST player. To have a potential all-MAAC player come in maybe at 75% and the possibility of being at 100% by the MAAC tournament is still better than an uknown commodity. Who says Majok Majok would have made an impact? Maybe he finds a difficult tranisition to the college game. We will never know.

You can also make the argument for Warren Edney injury being big. Cooley and others have described him as a "player of the year" candidate when he is healthy. Early in 2008 he was a big surprise and had a great early portion of the season. That being said, Cooley admits that he does not think Edney will ever fully recover and remember he has not played in almost 2 years! There will surely be rust and who knows if he will ever get back to his old form?